Louissi's Blog

House of Wolves Released!

Louissi — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:21:09 +0000

For those who didn’t notice it yesterday,House of Wolves have been released on Armor Games.

Please vote 10

House of Wolves Progress

Louissi — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Its been a while since I posted about my current project, but it doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy

Most of the game engine is done, and now I am working on the menus, achievements, save files and etc. Its boring work, but it needs to be done. Art is done, except for some popups. Most of the sounds are in the game. Game-play is almost final. Now all there is left is perfecting stuff and making sure everything runs well together. I invested a lot of time in a new save system that will hopefully allow me to save a lot of information quite easily. No need to say that saving a game in this project proves a challenge. Since the units have multiple AI states and possible actions, I have to make sure nothing goes wrong or missing when loading/saving a game in Story Mode.

Speaking of game modes, the game will be available in two modes: Story and Survival.

The Story mode will have 3 difficulty choices, plus every game the resources/enemies are laid out randomly. This mode features a tutorial and a background story. A normal story mode game usually lasts around 40 minutes. You can save in the menu and come back to your Story game later.

The Survival mode will have waves of enemies coming in from both sides. The goal will be to last the longest time possible before getting destroyed. You cannot save a game in Survival. The survival will most likely last 10 minutes for normal players and 20 minutes for experienced rts players.

Here are some screenshots of the game as it is right now:

“Last Castle” Situation report

Louissi — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:22:44 +0000

I am honored to know that many of you still enjoy “Last Castle“. Some of you also sent me feedback about it, and would like it to be fixed/expanded in a way or an other. I realize the game must be important for you to go all the way to write to me and I respect that.

Situation of the project (Better late than never):

The project was released as some sort of experiment, since I had never really released a full game using Smartfox Servers before. We got the game design done in two days, hired a voice actor, and completed the project in two-three months of full-time work. Because of the learning process involved with Multiplayer games, coding took way more time than expected. Hell, the whole concept of releasing a commercial project on untested grounds was, to be honest, nerve wreaking.

Eventually, since the game had to go out, some things were left unpolished. We did some patches for the time the game was very popular, but unfortunately no real plans were made for the long run considering the free nature of the game. I am pretty sure Armor Games eventually made the project profitable, but updating it further would, unfortunately, be a bad idea.

However, the whole experience is not wasted. The game I am working on right now is basically the same genre as Last Castle, yet more refined in game-play and not Multiplayer. Lets just say there are more things to do than just slay monsters. The way the game is evolving at the moment, it makes me think about creating a Multiplayer game based on it. If I can find the financing and etc.

So, the project Last Castle is not planned to be taken down soon, however I won’t be updating it. Hopefully, you will get its big brother eventually. Maybe.

Progress!

Louissi — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:32:21 +0000

Hello there! Its been a while since the last time I posted.

Here is what I accomplished on the project since last time:

Finished hunting
Added tools to manage workers
Added enemy towers
Finished 99% of the AI
Added mouse-over cursors/effect that help you see what you are clicking on
Made the game screen bigger
Finished the art for the buildings
Started the art for the enemies
Started working on building destruction and towers ( mounted units )
Figured out how the story will be told

That’s all I can remember for now.

Here are some preview images :

Click to view full size

Hunting season!

Louissi — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:43:16 +0000

I am almost done with the resource gathering AI and the HUD. I did as well update the code rendering the terrain, gaining a lot of performance. Right now I can run the game with 200 units at 60 fps and 3-4 ms of code. I hope the game will be fluid and easy to control

I also made the workers stand out more, they were hard to see in green.

Click to view full size

Hud in the works

Louissi — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:21:11 +0000

So, I started working on the HUD and I re-coded some stuff to make the game faster. Obviously, with so many moving things, it will be hard to keep it running smooth. To prevent abuse and lag, there might be a population limit.

Here is a snapshot of the HUD and some new buildings I am working on:

Click to view full size

Mines + Art Update

Louissi — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:04:16 +0000

I am done with the resource gathering for now. I also changed the way the terrain is calculated so now world sections have their own elevation. I also re-drew the hut to be more contrasted and pretty

Next: Hud and other buildings

Wood gathering done!

Louissi — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:33:13 +0000

So, I made some progress over wood gathering, building, and other bug fixes.

Here are some previews:

Next is gold, iron and stone gathering.
Once this is done, ill be able to concentrate more on other buildings and units, as well as fog of war.

Its starting to look like a real rts now

Medieval Game Progress

Louissi — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 10:42:43 +0000

Today I worked on the building / ressource gathering mechanics. I am not totally done but I wanted to share this screenshot:

New project in the works

Louissi — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:24:59 +0000

I have started working on a new game recently. It will be focusing on exploration, resources gathering and colony building/defending. It will be in a medieval setting.

I don’t have everything planned out just yet, but I wanted to share some images: